upper caste
Privileged hereditary stratum
Upper caste refers to the higher-ranking groups in a caste system, particularly in South Asian societies where social hierarchy is traditionally determined by birth.
Members of upper castes historically held privileges in education, occupation, and religious practice denied to lower castes.
The term appears in discussions of social inequality and discrimination: Upper caste families dominated local politics for generations.
It can also describe any entrenched social elite: Silicon Valley has developed its own upper caste of founders and investors.
- eliteSuperior select group
- aristocracyRule by hereditary elite
- high bornOf noble ancestry
- privilegeExclusive right or benefit
- social hierarchyStratified arrangement of status
hierarchy · purity · ritual · hereditary · status · nobility · lineage · dominance · priest · sacred · varna · oppression · birth · pedigree · entitlement · exclusion · ritual purity · tradition
upper castelower caste
Subordinate hereditary social group
Dalit · untouchable · outcaste · low-born
upper castemarginalized
Pushed to society's edges
underprivileged · disadvantaged · subaltern · downtrodden · oppressed